She Had Weeks To Respond But Chose Silence …Lead Investigative Journalist Exposes Fatima Bio

By Aruna Momoh Kargbo
Just last week, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) put out a report revealing that the First Lady of Sierra Leone Fatima Maada Bio together with her relatives has acquired properties in the Gambia worth at least $2.1 million.
OCCRP maintained that since she became the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Fatima Bio bought four properties in Gambia and that a $500,000 villa was purchased in her mother’s name.
“Fatima Bio’s half-brothers have also purchased Gambian properties, bringing the relatives’ spending to a total of at least $2.1 million on at least ten real estate transactions carried out between 2020 and 2024,” stated OCCRP.
That documents show a top Sierra Leone government contractor signed key paperwork for three of the properties, including the villa owned by the first lady’s mother but that when reached for comment, he denied any involvement in the purchases.
“The first family did not respond to questions about who paid for the real estate or the source of the funds,” OCCRP stated.
The report disclosed that tax records, employment history, asset ownership records, and other publicly available information suggest that Fatima Bio, her mother, and her half-brothers had modest means prior to her becoming first lady.
Amidst these allegations of corruption by the First Lady, she responded on her Facebook page that taking pictures of houses and claiming the ownership without documentation as proof is poor journalism.
She mentioned that no amount of blackmail will shut her up and that the first attempt by OCCRP is not working and that they should try harder.
In his response, the Lead Investigative Journalist of OCCRP Josef Skrdlik said that the First Lady might want to read the investigation first and get answers to her apparent doubts.
“Besides, OCCRP shared all the findings with her on April 16. She had weeks to respond but chose silence,” he wrote on his Twitter (X).